Tag: holbrookshawl

It happened again

I know. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? May has been a blur and no time for blogging. So. I’ll try and catch you up this morning.

I have had three shows and am at another this weekend with one more to go next weekend before I have a break in traveling. I will be home until the end of July. Where am I now? In Atlanta for Stitches United. I drove down and set up the booth yesterday. I didn’t get any pictures last night, so maybe later?

A few new things are in the booth like the finished Debussy . I am sorry for the quality of this picture, which I took last weekend in the booth, but it’s all I have at the moment.

I also managed to dye three new yarn colors which I am just realizing I have forgotten to take any pictures of!?! Sorry. I promise that will be something I will do today while I am at the booth and put them in the next post. Oh, but new colors also means three colors are discontinued, so they will be on Clearance for 50% off. The sale prices will be on the website by next week, if anything is left after these last two shows. No time to do it right now.

Ok, so what I’m knitting now (in my free time :-D) is a sweater for a change. It’s Firenze and I am using my Classic Merino Superwash Sport in Sapphire. I am getting close to being finished with the cabled yoke and I think the progress will pick up after that. It’s stockinette and rib for the body and then the 3/4 sleeves. I love those.

Remember the Holbrook Shawl I knit this winter? Pretty isn’t it? I guess someone else agreed that it was so pretty they needed it more than I did. I was stolen from my booth at Shepherd’s Harvest Festival in Minnesota a few weeks ago. I was very upset to say the least. So, not only do I need to re-knit this sample, I have made necessary changes to discourage this from happening again. This is the second sample I have had stolen in the last year. Six skeins of yarn also disappeared from my booth In Greencastle, IN. From now on I am securing all my samples with multiple zip ties and trying to arrange my booth where I am in sight of as much as possible. It’s really sad that it has come to this, but what else can you do? SMH

So, you will soon see another Holbrook in the same color on my needles. Sigh.

Okay, I have to close for now. I need to drop back by the booth and add some finishing touches before the evening Sneak Preview. Hope to see some of you this weekend or next at Hoosier Hills Fiber Fest!

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It’s not looking good

Well, the Holbrook shawl looks good, actually, what I mean is that the chances of being done by Monday so I have time to block it and pack it on the 12th aren’t looking great.

As you can tell, I have started the border edging but I am only about 30% done at this point. I haven’t given up all hope but I am realistic. I have a pretty long list of preparation tasks still and other things keep coming up too. I am trying to keep up and not let anything fall between the cracks. In order to do that I have to keep a handle on prioritizing that at least the most important stuff gets done first. Knitting is important, don’t get me wrong, but unfortunately it’s not at the top of the list.

So that’s my quick update. I have a million things to get to today, so I better get busy. Wish me luck!

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I think I can…

I am about 10 days into my Holbrook Shawl and the progress is encouraging. I have only 3 repeats of the main stitch pattern, which means 18 more rows, if I want to end it there and move on to the border. I had entertained the idea of adding two more repeats to make it a bit larger, but I am probably just going to go with the size as written. I would like to have this one finished in time to have it in the booth at Pittsburgh and Raleigh next month.

Speaking of fiber festivals, I have been working through my other show prep lists when I am not knitting or taking care of the household and family tasks. It has been a challenge with all the rain this winter but I did manage to get some yarn dyeing done on Monday. This is about half of it which I put back out on the lines today during a short respite in the wet weather. My next opportunity to get it all dry will be Sunday and Monday.

There are things that can be done on rainy days too. I have some Yarn Boxes I need to wax, yarn labels that need printed, cut apart and color labeled, patterns to be printed, etc. Of course it’s that time of year that we all dread; tax time. I have done my Federal return, first quarter sales tax returns, and local business personal property return, so that’s at least out of the way. Whew! I also need to take my truck to get some scheduled maintenance done before I hit the road again.

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What’s Next?

I am finished with my Dowland shawl and have begun my next project. I actually have quite a few in the queue, but have selected and wound the yarn for the next two projects. The darker one is Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn in color Slate which is the yarn I am using for a new Holbrook shawl in the photo below. The light green is Classic Merino Superwash Sport yarn in color Honeydew which I will be using for a new Kimani shawl. I need to knit new samples of both of these due to inventory changes.

Holbrook Shawl beginning

Holbrook should be a quick knit even if I decide to enlarge the original size a bit. It is an easily memorized lace and I remember it being very fast the first time I made it.

Dowland on the blocking mat

So, I was blocking Dowland yesterday and to my annoyance I realized I still need more blocking mats. I thought 18 should be plenty but if I had just ONE more I wouldn’t have had to come up with the work around you see below for that ONE point I couldn’t pin down. Sigh. It worked for this time but I will be buying some more before I block the next shawl, just in case. Of course I won’t need them then, right? :-D

Looks like I still need more blocking mats. :-)

I am quite pleased with how it came out and hope it will inspire many knitters in the booth this year. I can’t believe it’s only about a month until festival season begins again for me. First up is the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival and the next weekend I am happy to be going back to the Carolina Fiber Festival.

Usonian Shawl
Katania Shawl
Dowland Shawl

I hope to have the Holbrook finished to add to these three new samples. I think it is too much to expect that I can have the Kimani finished before I leave but I should have it on the needles to work on in my down time while I am traveling.


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